2008 Ford F-250, F-350, F-450 Pick-up Truck Reviews

Texas is for trucks. One in four Texans drives a truck of some kind and
one out of every six trucks Ford sells are sold to Texans. Ford, GM and
Toyota all make trucks in Texas. The competition is fierce for that Texas
truck image and that’s why we’re here this week – to
preview the newest Ford F-Series Super Duties.

Ford’s F-Series trucks date back to 1948 with a total production
over the years of more than 31 million units. Amazing. Ford has been the
leader in light trucks sales for 30 years and they’re not about to
let go of that distinction now. These Super Duties, F-250, F-350 and F-450
(everything bigger than the basic F-150) constitute 40% of F-Series truck
sales. Redesigned for ’08 they’ll be on sale this spring. In
fact, they’re probably being shipped now. We drove a bevy of
preproduction versions in Texas during the ice storms this week and
I’m impressed.

STEVE’S REPORT

We didn’t all get to go to “The Ranch” to really have
some fun with the new Ford Super Duty trucks. The plans were well thought
out by the Ford team but Mother Nature had other ideas. The first wave and
the last wave of journalists got to run the trucks through the mud, pull
some really heavy loads and put the trucks through their paces. Not only
that but they got to sit on a wild bull if they dared. Well, the bulls are
gone and the roads are closed by ice, and I couldn’t get there from
here – San Antonio, that is. Our colleague Martha Hindes, though, was
in the final wave and got to do the more intensive testing at the ranch in
spite of the ice. So, she’ll tell you about that later in this
story.

We, in the second wave, spent a few hours behind the wheel on easy roads
from Corpus Christi to San Antonio. I hopped into a Dark Copper Metallic
one with the optional King Ranch trim package. Dark red-brown leather seats
- the color of a Hereford bull - with contrasting white stitching and a
hint of saddle design. The King Ranch logo is pressed into the seats,
console pads and floor mats. JR Ewing would be right at home in this
luxurious and masculine interior. Wood and chrome accents along with fairly
good plastics give the interior nearly the feel of a luxury car. On each
side of the dash vertical panels housing the vents are a different color
plastic and constitute one too many textures, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Interior design and style are well done, indeed.

On the road from Corpus Cristi we had the opportunity to experience the
Super Duties on the road. Granted, these were relatively smooth roads,
mostly. The highway approaching San Antonio was a bit choppy but we
didn’t get any really rough or ragged roads. The Ford folks have used
extra sound insulation, quiet steel and other techniques to give the Super
Duties a more sophisticated, civilized and refined feel. They’ve done
an excellent job of making it feel less truck-like. Sure, it’s really
big but does not feel oppressive or cumbersome at all.

Three engines power these big trucks. The alpha truck, F-450 Super Duty,
comes with the 6.4-liter Power Stroke® turbo diesel V8. F-250 and F-350 can
be had with the diesel, a 5.4-liter V8 or a 6.8-liter V10. Let’s talk
about fuel mileage later.

The diesel makes 350 horsepower at 3000 rpm and an impressive 650
lb.-ft. of torque at 2000 rpm. That iron-block brute is made by
International and features high-pressure (28,000-psi), common-rail fuel
injection, precision machined, forged crankshaft, powder-forged connecting
rods and two turbos - a smaller high-pressure turbo that spins up quickly
and a larger low-pressure unit that supplements breathing at higher rpms.
Of course, in this intensive application extra engine cooling and oil flow
is included. Our three-hour test drive without a load on freeways and
two-lanes from Corpus Christi to San Antonio resulted in about 9.5 mpg.

Diesel technology has come a long way in the last few years. This one,
made by International, has 2 coolers within the exhaust gas recirculation
system that helps lower combustion temperatures along with an intake air
intercooler and oil-jet piston cooling. Cooler combustion temperatures mean
lower NOx emissions. The other major issue with diesels, of course, is
particulate emissions. Within the exhaust system we find both an oxidation
catalyst and a particulate filter. The former reduces unburned hydrocarbons
and generates heat for the latter. Particulate emissions are reduced by a
factor of 10 making it about equal to a gasoline engine of similar
size.

Ford and International are having a bit of a spat over costs and
warranty responsibility for the diesel engine but that’s not expected
to have an effect on availability.

Towing capacity is big news here. The last generation Super Duty led the
league with towing capacity of 19,000 and payload of 5,800 pounds. This new
Super Duty with the turbo-diesel can pull 24,000 and haul 6,120 pounds. The
increases are due to both the more powerful engines and improvements in
chassis design. The chassis redesign also makes possible the best turning
radius in its class and more sophisticated ride and handling. The longer
and larger leaf springs on the F-450 ramp capacity up a notch. Ford’s
young steed, president of The Americas Mark Fields, says they’re
having a problem finding things big and heavy enough to tow. The functional
and cool-looking fender vents add a nice touch of style.

My favorite new feature on these tough trucks is the tailgate step. Drop
the tailgate, pull out and drop down the bar that nests inside the
tailgate, flip the padded step, disengage and raise the handle bar, then
step right up into the bed - slicker ‘n snot on a doorknob, as the
Texans say. Why didn’t anyone think of that before.

Another neat feature is the extendo power mirrors. Not only do they
power adjust like other mirrors but they go in and out to accommodate a
wide trailer. And they fold inward to get through a narrow spot. The
integrated smaller distortion mirror takes a little getting used to but is
well thought out and functional.

I’ll certainly give the Ford PR staff credit for making the best
of a tough situation. While I didn’t get a chance to put the trucks
through their paces, I had enough time with the trucks and the engineers to
get a sense that the competition just got hotter in this tough truck
segment.

As I was boarding the Ford corporate jet for the flight back to Detroit
our friend and colleague, Martha, was arriving on the same plane after an
inordinate delay in Dallas for deicing.

MARTHA’S REPORT

“The truck’s at home here,” said Harry Rawlins, Super
Duty engineering specialist, as the pickup’s churning front tires
sent up sheets of brown water as high as the windshield. The large truck
lunged forward out of the foot-deep mud pit to clamber up a steep ridge
then dig through the deep ruts of a road filled with mud the consistency of
think whipped cream.

It was just one of the obstacles deliberately created by Rawlins as a
challenge to Ford’s new 2008 Super Duty pickup truck lineup for
visiting auto writers. Days of relentless rain followed by uncharacteristic
cold had turned what originally was a challenging South Texas off-road
course into a seemingly impossible stretch of ice-blanketed ranch land and
neighboring construction sites made available for the occasion. And
Rawlins, who designed the course, had not spared the difficulty despite the
weather.

One after another the sturdy, diesel-powered F-250s slid through the
terrain, chewing deep channels into the water-soaked ground, grunting up a
high hill with an estimated 45-degree grade before they toggled over the
top then drove on through a rocky-bottomed, shallow lake and up a
sharp-edged, foot-high escarpment.

Over near a corral, away from which the bulls had recently been hauled,
huge trailers and even some 40-foot RV homes waited for test drivers to
power them off a mud-slicked holding area and onto the nearby highway
hitched to Ford’s muscular, diesel-powered F-250s, F-350s and F-450s.
Despite the seeming impossibility of gaining traction on slime, they inched
forward then gained momentum with every different driver behind the wheel.
With that as an introduction, the term “Super Duty” needed
little additional clarification.

Ford had flown a contingent of automotive journalists specializing in
new truck reviews to San Antonio, Texas – an area the company
staunchly defends as “Ford truck country” for its vast number
of Ford pickup owners. The inauguration bears great importance to the
American auto and truck manufacturer with ongoing competition from revised
American Chevys and GMCs, Dodge Ram and an anticipated fierce challenge
from Japanese manufacturer Toyota, which has constructed a new Tundra
pickup truck factory in the heart of the area.

In towing exercises it was possible while behind the wheel to forget
there was a massive trailer body attached unless the blanked-out rear view
mirror gave away its presence. The F-250 and F-350 each hauled trailer
boxes loaded with 10,000 to 18,000 pounds of sandbags. The house trailers
maxed out at a whopping 24,000 pounds of dead weight towed behind.

In all renditions, hugging road curves and turning corners was smoother
than expected. Stops were not jerky and were uniformly under control thanks
to the F-Series’ precise, programmable trailer braking with not a
hint of need for the emergency stopping function. And roadway speeds were
reached, even when not in tow/haul mode, without a sense of extraordinary
weight dragging behind.

A handsome “King Ranch” russet-colored leather interior in
one F-450 model added to a sense of total ownership of the road.

A heavy-duty F-450 “duelie” carrying 8,500 pounds total
including the expected weight of four 200-pound men in the cabin, was
surprisingly compliant in handling and performance.

The imposing power of Ford’s Super Duty pickups comes from the
powertrains described by Steve above.

Complaints, when rarely heard, dealt more with amenities and with subtle
styling differences – more a matter of personal preference than any
lack of choices, since Ford states there are “one million”
possible variants in the Super Duty family of trucks. The sound system
panel, for example, that annoyed one driver for its complexity would likely
be just right for another. A simpler setup, without navigation system,
might seem too plain for a tech-inspired owner. Not finding the right
combination would seem more a lack of effort in making a choice.

THAT’S A WRAP

Super Duty was named Truck of the Year by the Texas Auto Writers
Association – an award Ford is particularly proud of. Marketing is
tied in with a few select entities like Cabelas, the American Quarter Horse
Association, Professional Bull Riders, the Future Farmers of America and
Toby Keith. Ford certainly is not in touch with its feminine side with this
one - though a few women certainly identify with these connections,
particularly Toby Keith. Martha is going to research women and their Super
Duties for a future story.

Back to Mark Shields for a moment – “We always try to raise
the bar in capability, power, innovation, refinement and style. With the
new F-Series Super Duty, we have produced the most bold and capable truck
ever.”

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